David Singer: Trump’s Vision of a Democratic “State of Palestine” is Doomed

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump’s vision for the creation of a democratic Palestinian State in Gaza and 70% of Judea and Samaria under his Peace to Prosperity Plan (Trump Plan) – is a futile exercise doomed to failure.

The Trump Plan defines the proposed “State of Palestine” [page 1] in these specific terms:

STATE OF PALESTINE: Throughout the Vision, the term “State of Palestine” refers to a future state, not currently in existence that could be recognized by the United States only if the criteria described in this Vision are satisfactorily met.

The prescribed criteria are:

“a predicate to the formation of a Palestinian State and must be determined to have occurred by the State of Israel and the United States, jointly, acting in good faith, after consultation with the Palestinian Authority” [page 34]

The “Palestinian Authority” no longer exists under that name – having been renamed the “State of Palestine” pursuant to a written decree issued by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on 3 January 2013. This name-change enabled the UN Secretary-General to inform the General Assembly on 13 January 2013:

“On 8 January 2013, Palestine informed the Secretary-General that the Head of Government was Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the State of Palestine, and that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine was Riad Malki. In accordance with its request, the designation “State of Palestine” is now used in all documents of the United Nations and on nameplates to be used in United Nations meetings. Mr. Abbas is now addressed as the President of the State of Palestine, Mr. Fayyad as the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine and Mr. Malki as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine.”

Even the “Palestinians” remain undefined in the Trump Plan.

These fictitious flights into semantic fantasyland will require the United States and Israel to consult with ghosts.

The criteria for recognizing the State of Palestine include “the Palestinians” having:

• Implemented a governing system that provides for freedom of the press, free and fair elections, respect for human rights for its citizens, protections for religious freedom and for religious minorities to observe their faith
• Appropriate governance in place to prevent corruption
• Ended all programs, including school curricula and textbooks, that serve to incite or promote hatred or antagonism towards its neighbours, or which compensate or incentivize criminal or violent activity.
• Achieved civilian and law enforcement control over all of its territory and demilitarized its population.

The omens aren’t good according to the Human Rights Watch 2020 Report:

• Palestinian armed groups in Gaza fired 1,378 rockets towards Israel 1 January 2019 – 19 November 2019
• Between January 2018 and March 2019, Hamas detained 66 people for social media posts or for allegedly violating broadly worded offences such as “harming revolutionary unity” and “misuse of technology” used to punish peaceful dissent or opposition.
• Hamas authorities detained more than 1,000 Palestinians during March 2019 demonstrations against the high cost of living.
• Laws in Gaza punish “unnatural intercourse” of a sexual nature, understood to include same-sex relationships, with up to 10 years in prison.
• Between January 2018 and March 2019, 1,609 persons were detained in the West Bank for insulting “higher authorities” and creating “sectarian strife,” and 752 for social media posts.
• There is no comprehensive domestic violence law preventing abuse and protecting survivors.

Free and fair elections in the West Bank and Gaza have not been held since 2006.
Trump has given the “Palestinians” four years to replace the current two autocratic Jew-hating regimes with a democratic Palestinian State.  Trump’s vision seems destined to end up in the garbage bin of history.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators –  whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.

David Singer: Trump Needs to Revise his Vision for Judea and Samaria

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump’s deal of the century envisioning the creation of a second Arab state in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan – is in tatters following its absolute rejection by the PLO – requiring its urgent revision by the president.

Trump has vainly struggled to keep the statehood possibility alive despite PLO President Mahmoud Abbas having consigned it to the dustbin of history on the day of its publication – 28 January 2020 -but the PLO has refused to play ball.

Being a beggar does not fit Trump’s persona. He is allowing Israel to apply sovereignty in 30% of Judea and Samaria in July – with allocation of the remaining 70% requiring another Arab interlocutor to negotiate with Israel.Trump’s vision was always a mirage – offering the PLO less than 100% of Judea and Samaria it had been demanding since 1967– supported by the international community since the 1980 Venice Declaration.

Trump had predicated his vision without even defining who comprised the “Palestinians”. In addition his plan had incorrectly asserted:

1. “Palestinians have aspirations that have not been realized, including self-determination”.

All West Bank Arabs became Jordanian nationals in 1954 until their nationality was revoked by Jordan in 1988.

2. “The State of Israel has also exchanged sizeable territories for the sake of peace, as it did when it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace with the Arab Republic of Egypt.”

 Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 didn’t rate a mention.

3.“One reason for the intractability of this problem is the conflation of two separate conflicts: a territorial, security and refugee dispute between Israel and the Palestinians and a religious dispute between Israel and the Muslim world regarding control over places of religious significance. ”

There is only one conflict – between Jews and Arabs - fuelled by the Arab League’s refusal to recognise the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948.

The religious dispute was resolved under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty granting Jordan control over places of Islamic religious significance in Jerusalem.

4. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin’s proposal for ending the Jewish-Arab conflict.

 Rabin actually said:

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Trump’s generous offer of statehood – rather than an entity less than a state – has gone begging with the PLO’s unbelievable rebuff of Trump’s proposal.

5. “This Vision addresses today’s realities, and provides the Palestinians, who do not yet have a state...”

The “Palestinians”do have a state – called Jordan – created in 78% of former Palestine in 1946.

 The key to ending this 100 years unresolved conflict now requires Trump to call on Jordan to replace the PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner to allocatebetween them the areas designated “Proposed future state of Palestine” in Trump’s vision for peace.

June 1967 marked Jordan’s loss of Judea and Samaria to Israel after 19 years of illegal occupation.
 June 2020 will hopefully signal Jordan’s agreement to peacefully return.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

David Singer: Three Politicians Can Make 3000-Years-Old Jewish Dream a Reality

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The votes are in – and it seems Israel’s Prime Minister – Bibi Netanyahu – is just three politicians shy of realising the 3000-years old dream of the Jewish People to regain sovereignty in Judea and Samaria – its ancient and biblical heartland.

The opportunity to turn this dream into a miraculous reality came with the release of President Trump’s Peace Plan on 28 January – embraced by Netanyahu but rejected by the Israeli Arabs, the PLO and the Arab League.

America and Israel’s response was to set up a joint six-member Sovereignty Mapping Committee to determine where Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria could be extended immediately. The residue – about 40% of Judea and Samaria where about 95% of the Arab population live – would continue to enjoy its current status quo – mainly under total PLO administration and security control.
Judea and Samaria formed part of the territory in which the Jewish National Home could be reconstituted following:

• the San Remo Conference and Treaty of Sevres in 1920 and
• all 51 member states of the League of Nations endorsing the Mandate for Palestine in 1922.

These rights vested in the Jewish people were preserved under article 80 of the United Nations Charter when the League of Nations was wound up on 20 April 1946.
Netanyahu’s main rival in Israel’s election held on 2 March – Benny Gantz – accepted the Trump Peace Plan but made it clear he would only implement it with the agreement of the Arab States and the international community. Given the rejection of the Plan by the Arabs and the European Union – Gantz’s promise was simply hot air that never had any chance of being implemented.
This latest election was the first in Israel’s history that had presented the electors with the opportunity to vote on the Jewish people regaining sovereignty in Judea and Samaria after an absence of 3000 years.
The battle lines were drawn – Netanyahu would do so immediately. Gantz would do so maybe, perhaps, possibly – but not certainly for sure – in the future.

The results were staggering:

• Likud converted a deficit of 37597 votes as against Blue and White in September 2019 into an amazing surplus of 132071votes in March 2020 – clear evidence that the voters wanted sovereignty in Judea and Samaria now.
• The turnout was impressive: 4615124 voters this time against 4340253 in September 2019.

Yet Netanyahu only managed to secure 58 of the 61 seats needed to turn this 3000 years-old dream of the Jewish people into a reality.

Netanyahu’s ability to find the support of another 3 of his 47 Jewish political opponents is complicated by the fact that he has been indicted by the Attorney-General in three cases alleging fraud and corruption and is due to appear in court on 17 March.

Four of Netanyahu’s 47 political opponents reportedly could switch their allegiance to Netanyahu to enable him to make this dream a reality.

Given this once in 3000 years opportunity of restoring Jewish rights in Judea and Samaria – it would be strange if many more of the remaining 43 politicians – including Liberman’s 6 Yisrael Beiteinu bloc – were not prepared to put the national interest of the Jewish People before their personal hatred of Netanyahu.

Restoring sovereignty would also fittingly complete the political process begun 100 years ago at San Remo in April 1920.

Netanyahu should not be written off just yet.

A fourth election beckons if Netanyahu fails.

The Jewish People’s long-held dream – if unrealized – could then turn into a debilitating nightmare – resulting in unprecedented political upheaval, civilian demonstrations and unrest.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators –  whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.

David Singer: Trump Moves to End 3000 Years Wait by the Jewish People

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump’s deal of the century (Deal) to end the 100 years old conflict between Arabs and Jews in former Palestine has seemingly hit a brick wall – following a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the 22 member countries of the Arab League on 1 February.

Their communique declared: 

"The Arab League rejects the deal as it does not satisfy the minimum rights and ambitions of the Palestinians and violates international law and United Nations resolutions"

Those minimum rights and ambitions have been spelled out for the last 46 years by their sole recognized spokesman – the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the creation of an independent Arab State for the first time in recorded history on all the land lost by Jordan and Egypt to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War and having its capital in East Jerusalem.

Trump apparently thought he had broken through the Arab League’s long-standing support for these non-negotiable demands as three Arab ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates stood beside him with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when releasing his Deal on 28 January.

The optics were good – but that vision was lost just four days later.

Trump appeared to have miscalculated the strength of Arab League opposition to his Deal. However that rejection has given Trump the opportunity to immediately proceed to complete that part of the Deal promised to Israel – the extension of Israeli sovereignty in parts of Judea and Samaria (West Bank).

That possibility had first been raised by US Ambassador to Israel – David Friedman – on 8 June 2019 when he indicated Israel had a right to annex at least some, but “unlikely all” of the West Bank.

Friedman then added: 

“We really don’t have a view until we understand how much, on what terms, why does it make sense, why is it good for Israel, why is it good for the region, why does it not create more problems than it solves. These are all things that we’d want to understand, and I don’t want to prejudge.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cleared the way for Friedman’s scenario to happen on 18 November 2019: 

“The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law”

Pompeo stressed that this decision was: 

“based on the unique facts, history, and circumstances presented by the establishment of civilian settlements in the West Bank.”

Pompeo however added a warning caveat: 

“…we are not addressing or prejudging the ultimate status of the West Bank. This is for the Israelis and the Palestinians to negotiate.”

Outright rejection by the PLO and the Arab League of Trump’s Deal has removed Pompeo’s caveat Friedman – not unsurprisingly – tweeted on 9 February: 

“.. the application of Israeli law to the territory which the Plan provides to be part of Israel is subject to the completion of a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee.”

The PLO and the Arab League had committed political suicide in rebuffing Trump – ensuring that part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) will soon come under Israeli sovereignty whilst the Arabs correspondingly miss out.

Another golden opportunity to end the Jewish-Arab conflict has been lost by continuing Arab intransigency.

Trump’s strategy will see new boundaries being determined for Israel incorporating part of the Jewish People’s biblical, historic and ancestral heartland in Judea and Samaria.

The area will be small in size but massively significant for the psyche of the Jewish People – who have been waiting for this day to arrive for 3000 years.

President Trump is bringing that very long wait to an end.

Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

David Singer: Trump Plan to end Jewish-Arab Conflict sees PLO implode

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas’s dismissive response to President Trump’s peace plan spells the end of the road for the PLO as Israel’s Arab partner to negotiate an end to the 100 years unresolved conflict between Jews and Arabs.

The PLO will maintain its long-standing rejectionist policy of not recognising Israel as the Jewish State after Abbas panned the Trump plan in the following denigrating and unequivocal terms: 

"They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not," Abbas told the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers.

"Trump asked that I speak to him over the phone, so I said 'no', and that he wants to send me a letter, so I refused to receive it."

Holding up a map that shows the gradual geographic reduction of Palestine through four stages from pre-1948 to Trump's Middle East plan, Abbas said: "I challenge any of you, if you can even see us on the map. If you ask a child in first grade to draw Trump's map he will never know how to."

"This is a disgrace," he added.

 Abbas also said that he will cut security ties with both Israel and the US: "We've informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States, including security ties," he said.”

Abbas has lost the plot.

The map Abbas held up (pictured below) – was false and misleading – comprising only 23% – not 100% of Historic Palestine.

Abbas’s map excluded Transjordan – 77% of the land in the League of Nations 1922 Mandate for Palestine. Transjordan was closed to Jews to reconstitute the Jewish National Home there under article 25 of the Mandate - reserving this 77% of Palestine for the Arab residents of Palestine.
Transjordan remained part of the Mandate until it was granted independence by Great Britain in 1946. A textbook containing a similar map was trashed by Publisher Mc Graw Hill in 2016.

The following map accurately records these historical facts:

Jordan and Israel are the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine – currently exercising sovereignty in 95% of former Palestine. Sovereignty in the remaining 5% – Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza – remains undetermined.

The PLO refusal to negotiate with Israel on the Trump plan - will have the following results:

· No second Arab state - in addition to Jordan – will be created in former Palestine

· US$50 billion in development aid will not be required to build and develop that new State

· Gaza and the West Bank will remain politically divided

Jordan should now replace the PLO in negotiations with Israel on Trump’s plan because:

· Jordan was the last sovereign Arab state to occupy the West Bank between 1948 and 1967 when the PLO expressly rejected any claim to sovereignty.

· Jordan conferred Jordanian citizenship on the Arab residents of the West Bank between 1950 and 1988

· The 1994 Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty will ensure good-faith – not confrontational  – negotiations

The areas designated for A Future State of Palestine in the Trump Plan (pictured below) now become possible areas for transfer to Jordanian sovereignty in negotiations with Israel.

Successful Israel-Jordan negotiations would be a real game changer – holding out great prospects that the long-running Jewish-Arab conflict could finally be achieved.

Failure by Jordan to negotiate with Israel could see Israel extend its sovereignty to all of Area C in the West Bank.

President Trump needs to phone King Abdullah of Jordan and persuade him to embrace Trump’s “deal of the century”.

The PLO has blown its chance to do so.

David Singer: Trump’s Vision is a Mirage based on Shaky Foundations

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump’s now released deal of the century – calling for the creation of a second Arab statein former Palestine in addition to Jordan (“the two-state solution”) – has predictably already been consigned to the dustbin of history by PLO President Mahmoud Abbas on the day of its publication.

Trump's solution was a mirage based on the same shaky foundations unsuccessfully pursued by the international community since the 1980 Venice Declaration. 

Trump’s failure to address the following issues ensured its collapse from the get go:

1.    The term “Palestinians” is not defined in the plan’s Glossary.

Who comprise “the Palestinians” and what constitutes their common identity?

 2.    Trump’s plan states: “Palestinians have aspirations that have not been realized, including self-determination”.

Trump ignores that the “Palestinians”' right to self-determination was realized when all West Bank Arabs became citizens of Jordan between 1950 and 1967 – then continued to retain their Jordanian citizenship until revoked by Jordan in 1988.

3.    Trump’s plan states: “The State of Israel has also exchanged sizeable territories for the sake of peace, as it did when it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace with the Arab Republic of Egypt.”

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Why was this not mentioned?

4.    Trump’s plan states: “One reason for the intractability of this problem is the conflation of two separate conflicts: a territorial, security and refugee dispute between Israel and the Palestinians and a religious dispute between Israel and the Muslim world regarding control over places of religious significance.”

There is only one conflict – between Jews and Arabs - fuelled by the Arab League’s refusal to recognise the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948.

The religious dispute was resolved under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty granting Jordan control over places of Islamic religious significance in Jerusalem.

5.    Trump’s plan states that Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin: 'envisioned Jerusalem remaining united under Israeli rule, the portions of the West Bank with large Jewish populations and the Jordan Valley being incorporated into Israel, and the remainder of the West Bank, along with Gaza, becoming subject to Palestinian civil autonomy in what he said would be something “less than a state.” Rabin’s vision was the basis upon which the Knesset approved the Oslo Accords, and it was not rejected by the Palestinian leadership at the time.'

Rabin actually said:

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines”.

6.    Trump’s plan states: “This Vision addresses today’s realities, and provides the Palestinians, who do not yet have a state  ...”

The “Palestinians” do have a state – now called Jordan – created in 78% of former Palestine in 1946.

The key to successfully ending this 100 years unresolved conflictrequires Jordan’s borders to be extended to incorporate those areas designated as “A Future State of Palestine” in Trump’s already-defunct proposal.

President Trump needs to go back to the drawing board and persuade Israel and Jordan to urgently negotiate those new borders.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article –  is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.

David Singer: Knifing Netanyahu Could Sink Release of Trump Peace Plan

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

From most reports, Israel’s Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu – will soon be finished politically – forced to resign as Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister to defend three indictments levelled against him by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

The first indictment involves bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000 – the Bezeq-Walla Affair; the second-fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 – the Illegal Gifts Affair; and the third for fraud and breach of trust in Case 2000 – the Yediot Ahronot-Israel Hayom Affair.

One consequence of Netanyahu’s exit from politics – if it does happen – could see President Trump having second thoughts about releasing his long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated deal of the century to end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict (deal) – which Trump had already promised to release after Israel’s next Government is formed.

A government without Netanyahu at the helm would pose a serious problem for Trump – who has forged a unique relationship of respect and mutual trust with Netanyahu that no other Israeli politician enjoys.

Trump is not in the business of seeing anything he proposes fail – especially this deal. Trump does not want to join former Presidents Reagan, Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama – whose well-intentioned proposals to resolve the long-running Arab-Jewish conflict have ended up in the garbage bin of history.

Trump has carefully crafted the drip release of his deal over the last two years – possibly in close consultation with Netanyahu – to give Israel the best hope it has ever had of finally reaching
agreement with purposeful Arab negotiators. Trump’s failure so far to find such Arab negotiators has been a major factor in delaying the deal’s release.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has made it abundantly clear that it will not negotiate with Israel on Trump’s deal under any circumstances.

Egypt and Jordan – the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994 – and the last two Arab States to have occupied Gaza and Judea and Samaria between 1948 and 1967 – still seem to be bucking at announcing their readiness to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s deal.

Trump will seemingly not release the final details of his deal unless he first receives Arab assurances to bona fide negotiate with Israel in translating those details into binding commitments to end the long-running conflict.

Trump will not release his deal only to find it is dead in the water because no Arab negotiators will sit down with Israel.

Trump is interested in winning – not losing before he even jumps out of the starting gate.

Trump will need to now be satisfied that any new Israeli Prime Minister possesses the same views as Netanyahu on the issuesTrump has already identified as integral elements of his deal:

• extending Israeli sovereignty toJewish towns and villages in Judea and Samaria,

• declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s eternal capital

• recognising Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights

Trump will now also need to be assured that any new Israeli Prime Minister will not call on Trump to renew America’s payments to UNRWA and UNESCO, to reopen the PLO Embassy in Washington or resume funding to the PLO.

Netanyahu’s uncertain political future and the absence of Arab negotiators ready to stand up and be counted – could see Trump’s deal being put on the political back burner until Trump’s bid for re-election for another four years is known on 3 November 2020.

Knifing Netanyahu introduces yet another wild card that could sink the release of Trump’s deal – leavingthe failed leadership of the PLO cheering and heaving huge sighs of relief.

Author’s note:The cartoon —commissioned exclusively for this article —is by Yaakov Kirschenaka “Dry Bones” —one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators —whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

David Singer: Israel, Jordan and Egypt Must Hop on Trump Bandwagon to Peace

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump has now delivered the missing piece in his plan to end the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict – providing the incentive necessary for Israel’s warring political parties to bury their hatchets and form a new Israeli Government within the next 21 days.

This unique opportunity for peace trumps the domestic differences that have prevented Israel’s political parties forming that new Government following the elections in April and September 2019.

Trump has been progressively signposting his roadmap for the last two years:

• Moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

 • Declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel

• Closing down the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Offices in Washington

 • Withdrawing American funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)

• Giving a substantial aid package to Jordan

 • Recognising Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights

• Having Bahrain host the "Peace to Prosperity"workshop to discuss the economic part of Trump’s "deal of the century"

• Flagging Israel’s right to retain at least some  but – “unlikely all” – of the West Bank,.

 Now Trump has made the end goal of his “deal of the century” very clear with the following statement issued by Secretary of  State Mike Pompeo:

“Turning now to Israel, the Trump administration is reversing the Obama administration’s approach towards Israeli settlements.

US public statements on settlement activities in the West Bank have been inconsistent over decades. In 1978, the Carter administration categorically concluded that Israel’s establishment of civilian settlements was inconsistent with international law. However, in 1981, President Reagan disagreed with that conclusion and stated that he didn’t believe that the settlements were inherently illegal. 

Subsequent administrations recognized that unrestrained settlement activity could be an obstacle to peace, but they wisely and prudently recognized that dwelling on legal positions didn’t advance peace. However, in December 2016, at the very end of the previous administration, Secretary Kerry changed decades of this careful, bipartisan approach by publicly reaffirming the supposed illegality of settlements. 

After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees with President Reagan. The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

The right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) for the purposes of reconstituting the Jewish National Home there has been enshrined in international law under article 6 of the 1922 Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the 1945 United Nations Charter.

The United Nations, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have denied the legitimacy of these Jewish claims – emboldening the Arabs to claim 100% of these territories. Pompeo’s statement has quashed the Arabs’ claims.

One roadblock still remaining requires Trump to identify the Arab interlocutors prepared to stand up and negotiate with Israel on Trump’s plan. Pompeo has given the PLO one last opportunity to join the negotiations with Israel.

“The  United  States  encourages  the  Israelis  and  the  Palestinians  to  resolve  the  status  of Israeli settlements in the West Bank in any final status negotiations.”

The PLO had already unequivocally refused to negotiate on Trump’s plan – and will continue to do so.Trump should focus on Jordan and Egypt -the last two Arab States to have occupied Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza respectively between 1948 and 1967 – to fill the void.

Israel needs  a new  Government  within the  next  21  days  or  face  another  expensive  and debilitating election  in  March  2020 – just  as  Trump  is  bidding  for  re-election - when  he  might  consider  it inopportune to release his plan.

Israel, Jordan and Egypt must hop on the Trump bandwagon now.

Author’s note:The  cartoon — commissioned  exclusively  for this  article — is by  Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” — one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the  columns of  Israeli and  international  media  publications for decades. His  cartoons can be  viewed at Drybonesblog

David Singer: Trump Writes off West Bank and Gaza as Separate Country

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and internarional affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The US State Department web site has removed the West Bank and Gaza (“disputed territories”) from its list of “Countries and Areas” – signalling that it no longer regards these disputed territories as potentially comprising a separate country – in addition to Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

This is the clearest indication yet that President Trump’s soon to be released deal of the century will abandon the “two-state solution” – the creation of another Arab State in the disputed territories for the first time ever in recorded history – propagated by President Obama and his former Secretary of State John Kerry.

The US State Department web site under Kerry had included the “Palestinian Territories” in the “List of Countries and Other Areas” between 2009 and 2017.

Kerry had declared as he prepared to vacate the State Department on 28 December 2016: 

“Throughout his Administration, President Obama has been deeply committed to Israel and its security, and that commitment has guided his pursuit of peace in the Middle East. This is an issue which, all of you know, I have worked on intensively during my time as Secretary of State for one simple reason: because the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is the only way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace and security with its neighbors. It is the only way to ensure a future of freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people. And it is an important way of advancing United States interests in the region.”

Kerry frankly admitted that America’s decision to abstain on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016: 

“was about preserving the two-state solution. That’s what we were standing up for: Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbors. That’s what we are trying to preserve for our sake and for theirs.”

Kerry was consumed by his own ignorance and arrogance when proclaiming: 

“Today, there are a number – there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state, or they can separate into two states. But here is a fundamental reality: if the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic – it cannot be both – and it won’t ever really be at peace. Moreover, the Palestinians will never fully realize their vast potential in a homeland of their own with a one-state solution.”

It obviously did not dawn on Kerry that there was another alternative to his “one state or two states” mantra: the division of the West Bank and Gaza between Israel, Jordan and Egypt in direct face to face negotiations to complete the allocation of sovereignty in former Palestine between Arabs and Jews first contemplated by the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

Obama and Kerry’s treacherous act of abstaining on Resolution 2334 was swiftly repudiated by the House passing H -Res 11 by 342 votes to 80 on 5 January 2017.

The PLO has committed political hara-kiri since – refusing to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s yet-to-be-released peace plan – vacating the field to other Arab states including Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to fill the negotiating void.

The State Department’s recently re-designed website sends a clear message to Arab states wanting to end the Jewish-Arab conflict to come to the negotiating table.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” —  one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

David Singer: PLO Suicide Note Leaves Jordan to Decide Fate of West Bank

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump has been given the clearest notice that his deal of the century will be stillborn if he designates any role for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in its implementation.

In a remarkable outburst that can best be described as his “suicide note”– PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared on 25 July:

“I reiterate that we will not surrender, we will not coexist with the occupation and we will not deal with the deal of deal of the century, or the slap of the century or the deal of shame - all names for one title. Palestine and Jerusalem are not for sale and bargain. They are not a real estate deal in a real estate company.”

Yet for the last 25 years the PLO – aided and abetted by Jordan – has refused to yield its claim to sovereignty over every square meter of West Bank real estate – when compromise could possibly have resolved the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict.

Two days prior to Abbas’ suicide note , the US Congress in a rare show of bipartisanship had offered the PLO a lifeline to enable it to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s yet-to-be-released proposals – overwhelmingly passing House Resolution 246 by a vote of 398-17 with 5 voting ‘present’.
Resolution 246:

• Urged: Israelis and Palestinians to return to direct negotiations as the only way to achieve an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• ...Reaffirmed: its strong support for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in two states – a democratic Jewish State of Israel, and a viable, democratic Palestinian state – living side-by-side in peace, security, and mutual recognition.

48 hours later Abbas’s suicide note had trashed Congress’s Resolution.

So where to from here?

First some indisputable facts:

• Jews have the legal right to settle in the West Bank under Article 6 of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (Mandate) and article 80 of the United Nations Charter.
• Jordan and Israel are the two successor States to the Mandate: Jordan being sovereign in 78% of the Mandate territory and Israel sovereign in 17%....
• 4% of the Mandate’s remaining real estate – Judea and Samaria – was unified with Transjordan between 1950 and 1967 and renamed Jordan – whilst Judea and Samaria were renamed the West Bank….
• The 1964 PLO Charter made no claim to territorial sovereignty “over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”...
• The revised 1968 PLO Charter declared the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the Mandate and everything based on them null and void....
• West Bank Arabs were Jordanian citizens between 1950 and 1988.
• Abbas and Arafat have acknowledged Jordanians and Palestinians are one people.

Reunifying parts of the West Bank with Jordan in direct negotiations between Jordan and Israel should now be Trump’s objective, recognising the following resolution passed at the 8th meeting of the Palestinian National Council in February-March 1971:

...“Jordan is linked to Palestine by a national relationship and a national unity forged by history and culture from the earliest times. The creation of one political entity in Transjordan and another in Palestine would have no basis either in legality or as to the elements universally accepted as fundamental to a political entity.... In raising the slogan of the liberation of Palestine and presenting the problem of the Palestine revolution, it was not the intention of the Palestine revolution to separate the east of the River from the West, nor did it believe the struggle of the Palestinian people can be separated from the struggle of the masses in Jordan…”

Abbas has written his suicide note .... Trump shouldn’t demean himself begging Abbas to reconsider.

Author’s note:...The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”—one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at…Drybonesblog

Fatah's Fury

On Facebook, CAABU (the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding) founded in 1967 to turn British public opinion against Israel, condemns an "Islamophobic" letter it's received from a Brit, but fails to explain exactly what is wrong with the assumptions given in the letter.

If its "educational programme" is, er, honest, so, surely, on many of those assumptions, must it fail.

Meanwhile, as this video shows:

"Clashes broke out between protesters and Israeli police near a checkpoint in Bethlehem on Tuesday as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the US' Israel-Palestine peace plan, as a US-led workshop aimed at discussing the US $50 billion proposal with regional leaders kicked off the same day. Dozens of protesters were reportedly injured in the clashes. One injured protester was seen being carried to ambulance. Footage also shows demonstrators putting a noose around US President Donald Trump's effigy before setting it on fire. Protesters also pasted pictures of Trump and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Bin Salman on a donkey before parading it through the streets. The so-called 'Deal of the Century,' which was unveiled by the White House on Saturday, promises to create 1 million new jobs for Palestinians and lists 179 possible infrastructure projects, including a highway between the West Bank and Gaza. However, the proposal has been met with hostility by Palestinians frustrated by the discounting the possibility of returning to their former homes."

Read all about it, and see many photos with translated captions, here:

David Singer: Trump Should Stop Billions Being Poured into Gaza and West Bank

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump should not allow the euphoria that swept the world following the 27 November 2007 Annapolis Conference to infect the Manama Conference being jointly hosted by himself and Bahrain on 25-26 June.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s closing remarks at Annapolis were brimming with hope:

“The conference began with the joint announcement by Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas that they will begin negotiations to establish a Palestinian state and to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace with the goal of concluding an agreement by the end of the year 2008”

Under their Joint Understanding Olmert and Abbas committed: 

“to immediately implement their respective obligations under the Performance-Based Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, issued by the Quartet on 30 April 2003 (hereinafter, "the Roadmap") and agree to form an American, Palestinian and Israeli mechanism, led by the United States, to follow up on the implementation of the Roadmap. The parties further commit to continue the implementation of the ongoing obligations of the Roadmap until they reach a peace treaty. The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitments of both sides of the Roadmap. Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, implementation of the future peace treaty will be subject to the implementation of the Roadmap, as judged by the United States”

Conference attendees included:

• Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

• Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas

 • President Bush

 and representatives from:

• Quartet members – United Nations, European Union and Russia

• Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

• Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen

• 30 other States including Canada, China, France, Germany,Japan and the United Kingdom

 A follow-up Donors’ Conference was held in Paris on 17 December 2007. 

Delegations from 87 countries and international organisations pledged a total of US$7.4 billion to support Palestinian institution-building and economic recovery for the next three years.

Of this amount, US$3.4 Billion was pledged for 2008. This amount included:

“humanitarian assistance, which was essential to help relieve the daily lives of the Palestinian population, especially in Gaza.”

The International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza was held in Sharm El-Sheikh on 2 March 2009. Participants pledged approximately US$4.48 billion covering the next two years.

They committed themselves to:

“start disbursing these pledges as quickly as possible in order to rapidly impact the daily lives of the Palestinians.”

 Pouring billions into Gaza and the West Bank has not relieved or impacted the daily lives of Gaza and the West Bank’s Arab populations.

The promised “Permanent Two-State solution” is dead and buried.

Trump and those attending Manama need to focus on how their new pledges will best help the daily lives of these captive populations still being governed by their 2007 rulers – Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The Manama Conference should consider:

• Funding new residential and infrastructure programsin neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and 

• Encouraging the legal migration of West Bank and Gazan Arabs to such countriesby offering them financial incentives to help themachieveprosperity and a better life for themselves and their families.

The invitees tothe Manama Conference will reportedly not include Israel. Mahmoud Abbas has refused to attend. Hamas has rejected the conference being held.

The Manama Conference should not continue pouring billions of dollars into these bottomless pits of misery and despair ruled by groups who will:

• not allow free elections and

• never recognise Israel as the national home of the Jewish people

 Manama 2019 will hopefully not repeat the mistakes of Annapolis, Paris and Sharm El-Sheik.

(Author’s note:The cartoon —commissioned exclusively for this article —is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”-one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators —whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)

David Singer: Trump Should Send Hamas, PLO and United Nations a Clear Message

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The barrage of more than 700 rockets fired into Israel from Gaza this past weekend and the “pay for slay” policy pursued by the PLO to reward those Palestinian Arabs who murder and maim Jews cannot continue to be met by only pious condemnations from the United Nations or even from President Trump himself.

The fact that such evil practices violate international law and constitute war crimes are of little consequence – as Hamas and the PLO continue merrily on their way to repeat these crimes with impunity over and over again.

The United Nations – ruled by a majority of 134 nations comprising the G77 – are impervious to ending the suffering being visited on Israeli civilians whilst condemning Israel’s  responses to end these inhumane practices.

President Trump can do a lot to halt these cycles of violence bymaking it clear that there are politicaland financial consequences that America will unilaterally implement – including:

1.Denying recognition of PLO and Hamas claims to represent the West Bank and Gazan Arab populations

2.Ending all overt and covert contact with the PLO and Hamas

3.Withholding all financial and other aidstill being made by Americato the Palestinian Arabs

4.Demanding free and fair elections are held in both Gaza and the West Bank under international supervision.

5.Supporting the right of Israel to close all entry and exit points to and fromGaza and Areas A and B in the West Bank.

6.Recognising that Israel has valid territorial claims to sovereignty in Gaza and the West Bank

7.Refusing to support the creation of a second Arab State – in addition to Jordan – in the territory once comprised in the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine

8.Backing Israel’s right to self-defence in taking whatever action it deems necessary to stop the flow of rockets and payment of blood money to the murderers or attempted murderers of  Israeli civilians

9.Withholding all American voluntary contributions presently being made to United Nations programs.

Gaza and West Bank Arabs have been denied the right to have any say in their own future since elections held in 2006.

They have been subjected to the will of Hamas and the PLO in their blind pursuit to eliminate the State of Israel.

They have paid a high pricefor the intransigence of both Hamas and the PLO.

They have been sandwiched between the bitter internecine struggle being waged between Hamas and the PLO to rule their lives.

The United Nations stands idly by and allows the Gazan and West Bank Arabs to remain so shackled and without any any expectation of a brighter future for themselves.

President Trump has the political strength to forge a peaceful path forward for the West Bank and Gazan Arabs that must see free elections held as soon as possible in Gaza and the West Bank.

Let Hamas and the PLO stand their candidates in those elections along with any other groups. At the very least those elections will show the level of support for the policies of Hamas or the PLO and the preparedness of those voting to continue to accept the consequences following from either’s agenda in relation to Israel.

The current situation cannot be allowed to continue.

700 rockets indiscriminately fired into Israeli population centres has presented Trump with an opportunity to at least end the suffering of both theIsraeli and Palestinian Arab civilian populations and give the Palestinian Arabs a say in their own future.

Trump should be seriously contemplating achievingthese twin milestones before releasing his long awaited deal of the century.

(Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschenaka “Dry Bones”-one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)

David Singer: Trump Consigning Russia-PLO Collusion to Dustbin of History

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump’s inexorable march towards releasing his  “deal of the century”  has seen his decisions on Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the PLO undermining 55 years of Russia-PLO collusion aimed at eliminating the State of Israel and establishing Russian supremacy in the Middle East.

Russia-PLO collusion has caused the deaths of millions of Jews and Arabs, leaving millions more with permanent and debilitating injuries deeply impacting their lives and the lives of their families.
Frontline states seeking Israel’s elimination – Lebanon, Egypt, Syria  Jordan, Libya and Iraq – have seen their societies and public assets adversely affected by war and civil insurrection.
Claire Berlinski  has detailed how Russia-PLO collusion began:

“Following the defeat of the Egyptians in the Six Day War, the Soviets came to a second realization: A conventional military confrontation with Israel, and by extension the West, carried too great a risk of escalating into nuclear war. A change of tactics was required. Gen. Alexander Sakharovsky, then head of the KGB’s intelligence arm, explained this to his East European colleagues: “Terrorism should become our main weapon.” Sakharovsky boasted that airplane hijackings were his own invention; he decorated his office with a world map, covered in flags, each marking a successful hijacking. Though the PLO managed to unite various terrorist organizations, “the supreme headquarters of the whole network was, of course, the Kremlin,” Stroilov writes, and “the evidence accumulated at this point leaves no doubt that the whole system was invented by Moscow as a weapon against the West, and the PLO was a jewel in their crown.”

 The PLO – born in 1964 – expressly disavowed any separate claims to sovereignty in Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem and Gaza. In 1968 the PLO reversed its position – claiming statehood in these very same areas that had been unified with TransJordan in 1950 and renamed Jordan – remaining part of Jordan until their loss to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
Jordan and Israel were identified by the PLO in 1964 as one indivisible territorial unit to be liberated by the PLO. The PLO unsuccessfully tried to take over Jordan in September 1970.

Terrorist attacks  by the PLO against Israel included:

• November 1969 – the armed attack on the El Al office in Athens, leaving 1 dead and 14 wounded;
• May 1972 – Ben Gurion Airport attack, leaving 22 dead and 76 wounded;
• December 1974 – Tel Aviv movie theatre bomb, leaving 2 dead and 66 wounded;
• March 1975 – Tel Aviv hotel attack leaving 25 dead and 6 wounded;
• May 1975 – Jerusalem bomb, leaving 1 dead and 3 wounded;
• July 1975 – a bomb in Zion Square, Jerusalem, leaving 15 dead and 62 wounded;

Berlinski explains:

“The code-name for this operation against Israel, according to Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking defector from the Soviet Bloc, was “SIG”—Sionistskiye Gosudarstva, or “Zionist Governments.” In a National Review article, Pacepa recalls a conversation he had with KGB chairman Yuri Andropov, who envisioned fomenting “a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world. … We had only to keep repeating our themes—that the United States and Israel were ‘fascist, imperial-Zionist countries’ bankrolled by rich Jews.”

 The Jew-hating PLO has forced itself undemocratically on the Palestinian Arabs for five decades except for one vote in 2006 – which the PLO refused to accept.
International support and recognition afforded the PLO by the United Nations and UNESCO have exacerbated the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict – not help resolve it.
President Trump will be doing the cause of world peace a great service if his peace proposals finally consign this demonic Russia-PLO cabal to the dustbin of history.

(Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”—one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)

David Singer: Trump Seems Set to Expose UN Fraud on Boundaries of Palestine

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump appears set to expose more than forty years of deceptive and misleading information disseminated by the United Nations (UN)  in relation to the boundaries of former Palestine.


This welcome development comes with President Trump’s Special U.S Envoy Jason D. Greenblatt telling Sky News in Arabic on 19 April:

“there is no reason to use the term ‘two-state solution,” the reason being that, “every side sees it differently.”

The UN must take responsibility for creating such confusion by perpetuating intellectual and political fraud originating with its 1978  publication: "The Origins and Evolution of the Palestinian Problem" (referred to below as the Study).

Part 1 of the Study covering 1917-1947 was trashed by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN – Yehuda Blum – on 16 November:

 “Even the most cursory reading of this document can leave no doubt that the means and machinery of the United Nations have been misused once again to disseminate highly selective and tendentious information under the guise, in this instance, of what purports to be a scholarly study.
The history of international conflicts, and particularly those with complex historical origins, can only be properly written by objective historians who enjoy complete academic freedom. The practice of writing and rewriting history according to the transient interests of a political body is, of course, characteristic of certain regimes. It is regrettable that the United Nations has now been drawn into that pattern.”

 Blum then told the UN General Assembly on 30 November 1978:

“At the end of the first part of the publication, ostensibly dealing with the period of the Palestine Mandate, there appear a number of maps. The one map that is conspicuously absent is the official map of the Palestine Mandate which, until 1946, included Transjordan on the east bank of the Jordan River. This map was omitted because it does not fit into the PLO’s own scheme, as it would show too clearly that a Palestinian Arab state has already been in existence for 32 years on more than three quarters of the territory of mandated Palestine – that is, the state now called Jordan. That embarrassment is eliminated in this purportedly scholarly and impartial publication by the simple expedient of eliminating the map.”

Blum was not finished – pointing out to the General Assembly on 20 December 1978 regarding Part 2 of the Study, covering 1947-1977:

“Taken in conjunction with the first part, it is clear that this pseudo-scientific “study” is designed to give currency, under the emblem of the United Nations, to a completely misleading version of the history of the Arab-Israel conflict.
Put briefly, that version has it that the League of Nations Mandate over Palestine was illegal, and all subsequent events, including the establishment of the State of Israel, are null and void. This wholly distorted view is set out in almost as many words in article 20 of the so-called PLO’s basic document, the “National Covenant”, and it forms the underlying thesis of the United Nations Secretariat publication in question. It completely ignores the Jewish people’s inalienable rights to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty in its homeland, the land of Israel.
Thus, what purports to be a scholarly study, supported by what appears to be a scientific apparatus, is no more than a crude piece of propaganda.”

Two  States exist in former Palestine today: Arab Jordan – created in 1946 in about 78 per cent of former Palestine –  and Jewish Israel – created in 1948 in about 17 per cent of that territory. These two states remain pivotal to ending the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict.

Trump seems ready to set the UN fabricated record straight when his peace plan is released.

(Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)

David Singer: Israel jettisons PLO as Negotiating Partner on Trump Peace Plan

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

Israel’s decision to withhold US$138 million dollars in tax revenues collected for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – equalling the estimated annual payments made to Palestinian Arabs (or their families) carrying out random and indiscriminate attacks against Israeli civilians – marks a watershed in Israel-PLO relations.

Israel’s action will see the PLO being finally jettisoned as a possible negotiating partner on President Trump’s long-delayed peace plan – deferred yet again until after the Israeli elections in April.

The release of the Trump plan could now be further postponed as the president continues his so far unsuccessful search to find other Arab negotiators willing to replace the PLO – which had already rejected having anything to do with Trump’s plan well before Israel’s latest decision.

The law authorising the freezing of these PLO funds was passed by the Israeli parliament in July 2018 – three months after similar legislation – the Taylor Force Act – passed by the US Congress – was signed into law by President Trump.

Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked stressed the funds withheld would be used to pay “fat salaries to murderers who are in prison”.

They would also be used to pay Palestinian Arabs imprisoned in Israeli jails for lesser crimes.
Israel’s action follows the discovery of the body of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher in the Jerusalem Forest on 7 February.

Channel 12 news reported that investigators from the Shin Bet security service and Israel Police hoped to indict Arafat Irfaiya, a 29-year-old Hebron resident, for murder in the context of a terrorist act in addition to a charge of rape.

Israel is clearly not prepared to allow this continuing wave of terror to be condoned and rewarded financially by the PLO.

Al Jazeera reported that the PLO took a very different view of Israel’s freeze:

"The Palestinians have accused the Israeli government of piracy, of coordinating this with the United States to add pressure ahead of the publication of the Trump peace plan"

The PLO had,however, been unceremoniously consigned to the diplomatic scrap heap by Trump well before Israel’s tax-revenue freeze. Trump had been given the thumbs down by the PLO after Trump had:

• Recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

 • Stopped America’s annual payment of US$350 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

• Shut down the PLO offices in Washington

 • Cancelled more than $200m in aid for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had already dismissed any further involvement with Trump on 5 January 2019:

“We are dealing with three issues that we can not accept: the situation with the US, the situation with Israel and the situation with Hamas. The doors are closed to the US. As long as it does not retract its decisions against the Palestinian people, no Palestinian should meet with the American leadership, no matter what their role is.”

 Paying murderers and felons who kill and maim Jews has finally become the PLO’s political downfall.

Ori Ansbacher’s murder was the final tipping point for Israel to dump the PLO as a future negotiating partner after thousands of well documented random terror attacks on Israel’s civilian population over the last four years – perpetrated by individuals, many very young, inspired by vicious incitement in Palestinian social and traditional media and rewarded financially by the Palestinian leadership.

The days of “pay for slay”and fruitless negotiations with the PLO that have gone nowhere over the last 25 years are over.

Israel has well and truly closed the door on the PLO and it should remain locked and bolted.

David Singer: Trump Plan for Israel-Jordan-Egypt Negotiations Hits Brick Wall

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump’s self-styled deal of the century aimed at resolving the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict has now been postponed beyond February for a further unspecified period of months – signalling Jordan and Egypt are still refusing to step up and negotiate with Israel on Trump’s plan.

Jordan and Egypt – having respectively signed peace agreements with Israel in 1994 and 1979 – were the last two Arab states to occupy Judea and Samaria (West Bank), East Jerusalem and Gaza (“the disputed territories”) between 1948 and 1967.  Both are eminently qualified to replace the Palestine Liberation Organisation which has flatly refused – sight unseen – to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s proposals to resolve the allocation of sovereignty in the disputed territories.

Trump’s plan will be stillborn unless Arab interlocutors indicate in advance that they stand ready to take up the challenge presented by Trump’s ideas and agree to meet with Israel to try and reach a deal acceptable to both Arabs and Jews.

America’s ambassador to Israel – David Friedman – revealed that the upcoming Israeli elections in April were a factor – but not the only factor – that led to the latest postponement of Trump’s long-awaited peace plan.

Friedman said the White House wanted to release the plan in a way that gave it the best chance of getting a good reception. Friedman noted additional “wordsmithing and smoothing” was still required before it was publicized.

Friedman added:

“The challenge to a peace plan is making the case for a much more sober assessment of the realities in this region. The last time there was a meaningful agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians was 1993 [Ed – The Oslo Accords]. A lot has happened since 1993”

Friedman’s comments came during a joint media conference held in Jerusalem alongside US National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Bolton had seen General Jim Mattis resign as Secretary of Defence in December. Since 2013 Mattis had strongly supported the two-state solution – the creation of an additional Arab state between Israel and Jordan – contemplated by both the Oslo Accords and President Bush’s 2003 Roadmap, and unsuccessfully pushed for eight years by President Obama and his Secretaries for State – Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

Bolton’s opposing opinion held since 2009 was reconfirmed to Eric Shawn on 21 January 2018:

“I hope at some point the Administration recognizes and perhaps it is already quietly – that the two-state solution isn’t going anywhere. If anything I would say to King Abdullah of Jordan – “Be prepared to reassert Jordanian sovereignty over part of the West Bank – negotiate with Israel”. I think that’s a far better outcome than the continued pursuit of a mythical – I believe – unattainable viable Palestinian state”

Twelve months down the track Bolton’s Jordan approach has seemingly prevailed – especially after Friedman’s assertion last September:

“Since 1994, the United States has thrown more than $10 billion in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. Without minimizing the importance of medical treatment and quality education for children — and we don’t minimize that, not even for a minute — we found that these expenditures were bringing the region no closer to peace or stability, not even by a millimetre. To spend hard-earned taxpayer dollars to fund stipends to terrorists and their families, to expend funds to perpetuate rather than to mitigate refugee status, and to finance hate-filled textbooks — I ask you, how does that provide value to the United States or the region?

Friedman’s “wordsmithing and smoothing” comment indicates that Jordan and Egypt could be holding out for further American financial and security guarantees before agreeing to negotiate with Israel.

Trump’s legendary negotiating skills – and patience – are being seriously tested.

(Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)